1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a drain for the eardrum and an apparatus for inserting the same into the eardrum, and more particularly to an apparatus for inserting a drain into the eardrum by which a hole is bored through the eardrum of a patient suffering from otitis media and the drain inserted into the hole in the eardrum.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is generally known, a drain for the eardrum is inserted into a hole bored through the eardrum of an otitis media patient by a scalpel to ensure that the hole does not close and that pus generated in the middle ear will be discharged therethrough.
Conventional eardrum drains are formed of silicone rubber or polyethylene, and no method has been proposed by which the drain can be surely held in the eardrum or which will prevent the drain inserted into the hole in the eardrum from readily falling from the eardrum. Therefore, conventional drains inserted into the hole in the eardrum have often fallen from the eardrum during medical treatment for otitis media and consequently the trouble of inserting the drain into the hole in the eardrum has to be taken again.
Moreover, no special apparatus for inserting the drain into the eardrum has been developed. Consequently, when a medical man wishes to insert the drain into the eardrum of the patient, he incises the eardrum to a suitable length with a scalpel, picks up the drain with a pincette and inserts the drain into the incised eardrum. In the above-mentioned conventional method, it is very troublesome to insert the drain into the incised eardrum, and much operating time and a high level of skill are required.
If the medical man incises the eardrum too much, the drain inserted into the eardrum will be in an unstable state and there is the possibility that the inserted drain may fall from the eardrum.